July 21, 2022
A U.S. House of Representatives committee known as the House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved a bill to create the first U.S. privacy law.
The committee approved the bill by a 53-2 majority, meaning it will now go to the House of Representatives, even though a similar bill is already before the Senate.
The U.S. privacy law seeks to limit the personal information collected by big technology companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook.
“People need more control over their information online. They’re looking to us, their elected representatives, to act. The American Data Privacy and Protection Act includes the most robust privacy protections to date in the United States,” Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the top Republican on the committee, said after its passage.
Privacy laws have not been in place for some time, despite being introduced to the Congress.
Two major fears are responsible for the rejection, and they include whether the approval of the directive would pre-empt state laws, which are sometimes stricter, or whether individuals will be allowed to sue in the event of privacy violations.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
